Updated 2pm

A police sergeant leaked information about multiple upcoming police raids, prosecutors alleged on Saturday. 

Cherise Camilleri, 28 and from Qormi, is alleged to have spent months "and maybe years" providing information about police operations to third parties, with prosecutors saying they found evidence of that on her phone. 

She was arraigned in court before Magistrate Victor Axiak on Saturday and pleaded not guilty to criminal charges. 

Investigators were told that the person leaking information had a prominent tattoo on her arm. Photo: Facebook

Camilleri was an officer within the police's drug squad. She was suspended on Friday pending criminal charges. 

She stands accused of forming part of a criminal organisation, taking bribes in the course of her work as a public officer, leaking confidential information and revealing sensitive security information, being an accomplice to drug trafficking, money laundering and misuse of electronic equipment.

The prosecution told the court that they were alerted to the presence of a possible mole through a tip-off which warned them about a police officer named “Cherise” who had a tattoo on her arm. 

Police suspicions were further heightened when they discovered that Sergeant Camilleri and a person of interest in the investigation were friends on social media.

The police sergeant was arrested on November 18 at St Andrews. Her mobile phone was seized and she was taken in for questioning. She denied having ever leaked information and was given police bail. 

But data extracted from her mobile phone suggested she was passing on information about police work to a third party, the prosecution told the court. 

Camilleri was arrested for a second time on November 21.

Another person of interest in the case was also arrested that day as he reached Malta from overseas. 

Police seized the man’s mobile phone and found that he was in contact with Camilleri about a number of police operations. 

Prosecutors asked the court to approve a freeze of Camilleri’s assets. Camilleri’s lawyers did not contest the validity of the arrest and did not request bail. The accused was remanded in police custody. 

Attorney General lawyers Maria Francesca Spiteri and Kevin Valletta led the prosecution, assisted by Inspectors Christina Delia and Lydon Zammit.

The defendant was represented by lawyers Arthur Azzopardi and Frank Tabone.